hawairish

Yeah, not hard, just a lot of work. I've done all mine with a floor jack and jack stands (including that diff). Help is a luxury item I've rarely seen over the past 15 years when working on my vehicles. Unless you count my wife dropping my to make sure my truck isn't resting on my face, or my kids taking my tools when they see an opportunity (i.e., my feet hanging out from under the truck). CDN_S4 had an exception because of rust, of course, which presents some other challenges. But I wouldn't let difficulty of the SFD install dissuade you, DJ, if you really want to go that route. I would instead focus on parts availability. We might go without a failed or replacement part for a couple of days...you might go a couple of weeks. My real point is that I think your project may snowball quickly if you don't know what you're looking for nor how to achieve it. (Uh...so maybe snowballing isn't a good reference for Qatar, but I don't have a sand-related analogy ). Have you seen these? Where Can I Find Old Man Emu Supension In Doha? ARB Emirates Ironman 4x4 Middle East (Ironman produces a lift spring that two guys here are running. They have a medium and heavy duty option...Ironman4x4.com) Making a strut spacer locally should be trivial. Get a strut mount, trace the shape, make it uniformly X thick out of steel/aluminum/poly, use longer bolts on the strut mount, install. If you have Nissan Patrols or other LandCruiser series over there, you might even have better/cheaper options than WJ springs. We don't have those here, so we can't really chime in, but I've seen some references to Patrol springs before on NPORA and the PCoA forum (the Australia forum where they also have Patrols/LCs). You'd need to do a lot more homework.

And I completely agree with CDN agreeing with me. I've installed an SFD on my own truck 3 times already (original install, spacer swap #1, and spacer swap #2...it all requires the same amount of work), including all my own homework to make them in the dimensions I wanted. It's a lot of work. I bought the truck used with OMEs at all corners and 245/70/16s. I was very pleased with that setup.

Expanding on my last comment about not getting the SFD...if you have routine vehicle inspections that prohibit that sort of modification, definitely don't do the SFD. It's not something you can just quickly remove from the truck to pass inspection. What exactly are you looking to do with your truck? Your initial post only seems to suggest that you want to replace all your suspension components, but it's not clear why. Is there a particular tire size you're looking to run? This dictates how much lift you'll need. You mentioned larger all-terrains...what's available there? If all these basic parts are so difficult to find locally...even regionally...then what's your back-up plan if something fails? Like I said, I'd go with the OME setup, put 31" tires on, and see how it works out for your trips.

I've not done the WJ springs personally, but everything I've read suggests they are lift springs (i.e., not stock springs). The FAQ link I provided should answer that. The F250 shocks will likely need to have the bushings swapped: The upper bolt size on the F250 is close to the lower bolt size on the R50 The lower bolt size on the F250 is close to the upper bolt size on the R50 The need entirely depends on the bushings and sleeves supplied with the shock; some bushings may already be pressed in, some might not. Don't install the longer springs until you've got the rear springs in. The compressed length may cause bottoming out and damage the shock. I gave links for the front items...Rock Auto. You don't have many options for struts: KYB, Gabriel, Monroe, Rancho (a Monroe company), OME. That's about it. I believe there's a Bilstein for European R50s, but we've not seen it in the States. Another option for you is to keep your stock/current suspension and just add the SFD. You'd still need to figure out how to lift the rear 4". Personally, I think you should just get the OME springs, shocks/struts, some 1" spacers, and call it a day. The SFD approach you're talking is the extreme end of lifting the R50, and getting/finding all the other parts appears to be a hassle. You'll be satisfied with that setup. I'm not exactly sure what your goal is though...

Thinking 33's eventually, but the boy approves as-is.

I don't think there's a day in the past week or so where I didn't do something to the truck, but this day was particularly fruitful: I finally finished my driveline project. My donor front axle with Lokka and 4.636 went in last weekend, and rear diff with rebuilt LSD (175 ft-lbs) and matching gears in today to replace my open diff...took it for a spin, and the gears alone make a world of difference. While at it, swapped in some brake shoes with less wear from my donor H233B axle, added a diff breather line (it just had the little nubby breather), replaced some wheel studs, and put a coat of paint on the brake drums. Last weekend added another inch of lift up front (now 3" spacers + OME) and swapped in my 3" SFD spacers. Also started re-assembling my R50 tire carrier tonight to get ready for mock-up (and drilling?) tomorrow. Had it and my sliders powder coated gun-metal the other week.

For your rear brake line, I used one from a Frontier...but pretty much any Nissan truck or Xterra from 1986-04 will do! Check out Centric p/n 15042354 at Rock Auto. It's about 4.75" longer than ours (Centric p/n 15042351). Hover over pics and dimensions, and you'll see the fittings are the same. I installed one several months ago when I added spacers. Paid $9.39 for it. Perfect fit. By the same token, I also ordered front brake lines for an 08-13 Nissan Rogue (p/n's 15042116 and 15042115). They're a little longer too, but the inline crimp for mounting to the strut limits some of the additional length...a custom bracket would free up more inches, but they were good for another 2" or so as-is I believe ($13/ea). I swapped those in at the same time as the rear line. The fittings are a match, but the inline crimp that clips to the strut was a little different. Took a file to the strut bracket and was able to get the retaining clips on. There's a subtle difference between the parts: the shape that the crimped part "keys" into on the strut bracket, but I didn't have a way of knowing which was left or right (but I can tell you they fit either side of the truck.) The 5125's are the shocks I'm planning on.

I run OME struts, and they're great. KYB seems pretty popular too, and some guys like the Gabriels. The OME you can get from a few places, but RRO seems to be where everyone gets them from. You can get the others from Rock Auto for about $60-$65/ea. Rock Auto lists parts for European models, too, so you may be able to reference all the part numbers and find a closer supplier. RA also sells a variety of strut mounts. If you're planning to freshen up the strut assembly, may as well think about new strut bearings. Otherwise, what you currently have might be re-usable. OME has some nice shocks, but you may have to do some homework on that one and see what lengths and bushing combos will fit yours. My experience with Bilstein has been good and bad, but I plan to go with Bilstein again soon because I'm not sure if OME will have the application I need. You'll also need to determine the height you need and see what the part number is. But for reference, I run a 2" spacer and OME spring (~1.5") and use a shock that is 28.125" extended, 16.625" compressed, 11.5" of travel. OE is 24.25"/15.125"/9.125". That said, an inch longer per inch of lift is a good starting point.

So wow...forgetting about the LSD for a moment, what a surprising difference the 4.636 gears make! The LSD did great, too. Very good street manners, definitely noticeable. Some gas around the corner and it gives a very firm grab-and-go. Despite all the effort, a worthy upgrade.

The WJ is the Grand Cherokee, 1999-04. Be sure to check the FAQs from KrF, it should have all the answers you need.

I'll see if I can find the Bilstein p/n's later, though you might want to try their online catalog by series (vs. by application) and desired length. Since you're running lift, just look up the length of your current shocks and add some inches relative to your lift. And I'd skip on the F250 option. I run Monroe Reflex cheapies for an F250 on mine, and the problem I had was that the bushings sizes (while correct for the R50 size-wise), are backwards, so you'd have to mount the shock upside down. Not a problem with monotubes, but a problem with monotubes that have an integrated steel boot...when mounted upside down, it's a cup collecting water. Not a problem with the rubber/poly boots. On mine, I had to press out the bushings to swap them. Wasn't worth the hassle. Also, XPLORx4 has posted up some golden info about the Bilsteins valving. May want to search for that. I plan to upgrade to Bilsteins in the near future based on his advice.

DJ, if you go with the WJ springs with the KrF SFD, then you should only need longer shocks. Some guys (like me) run with shocks for an 02-ish Ford F250...but you'd probably have better luck finding an Bilstein dealer and getting a better product. You should also consider longer brake lines, though I don't know how good your options are. I use a rear lines from a 98-04 Frontier/Navara and front lines from an 08-13 Nissan Rogue....but shhh, I haven't told anyone that yet (secret's out). I think I paid maybe $35 US for all three and they fit fine. Rear line is about 6" longer. Chances are that your Airlift 1000 won't fit the springs...well, I should say, they might not be tall enough. But, the solution may be pretty simple, like a puck to fill the gap if needed. Wouldn't worry about it until you get to that point. On a side note about the SFD...you guys don't have any sort of inspections that disallow these sorts of modification, do you? Just asking because some places (like Australia) don't. And don't sweat asking questions...we all get a little excited about this stuff. But we understand it's probably a little more stressful for you because you have to coordinate having everything shipped from the States.

And next time (never!), I'm just buying a f*#%^@ Xterra diff... I had to settle for R50s locally.

Yeah, it's a real fine line. I was definitely pissing me off, too. Must've rebuilt them at least a dozen times trying to find that happy medium. For one rebuild, I swapped the entire stack to the other carrier, and the numbers carried over...somewhere way over 300, and some lousy 100 number. So .1mm per side made a 200 ft-lb difference. I thought about dumbing down the stack by swapping a pair of discs with plates, but it wouldn't have given me any spares to add .1mm to the other LSD build...so I'd have one LSD at less than 300, and still one at 100 with nothing I could do to improve it. I ended up doing what I didn't want to do, and that was to make the stack uneven. One side in each LSD is .1mm thicker than the other. I kept trying to rationalize it: what difference could it make?!?! I stared at my digital calipers set to .1...as thick as a sheet of paper; 0.0039". Unbelievable the difference it makes. I don't think it will break anything, but theoretically should lead to a little more wear on the thinner side. However, with both sides seeing pressure from the springs and spiders, I can't imagine it will be significant enough to worry. With this setup, I got one diff at 175 and the other at 150. Given all the pairings that I tried, it seemed that I should be able to produce some total between 300-400 for both LSDs combined, so I'm settling for those numbers. It's the most even pairing I've had. I literally just pulled it off the jacks, need to tackle one more thing up front and then will take it for a test drive. I installed the Lokka and front 4.636 last weekend, LSD and rear 4.636 today...and a few other things (a spare donor axle comes in handy!). I took the 175'er, buddy's getting the 150. I ended up using a length of 2x4 lumber to create a new bar. Worked out well...the steel bar that had broken off the previous bar became an insert on the 2x4 that I bolted to it. This particular 2x4 has been my multi-tool through this entire process...used it to mount the R200A flange so I could disassemble it for the Lokka, used to keep the wheel hubs stationary during torque tests, and then made it the torque bar. Who'd have thought...

Solid. How do you like that Trash-a-roo? Not sure it was asked previously, but are the upper spring perches oriented correctly? There's a notch that should be towards the motor. On mine there's also a W that faces outward towards the wheel.

That's what my 98 Frontier would do. Light came on, topped it off, light went off. I thought I had read that was normal in the FSM, but it's been a while.

Welcome aboard, Steven, and sounds like you like Datsuns/Nissans just a little bit... I've loved all the Nissans we've had, and we still have a couple of them around. I've been spending the past several months down in Norman, where my employer is based. Wish you guys would pick a weather type and stick with it ...went from the most rain I've seen in a long long time, to "oooooh, tornado...", to "man it's nice out", to "damn humidity" in about 72 hours. I'm just used to "damn it's hot" for about 7 months straight.

Looking good!

Well alright, I'll concede that much

Silly rabbit, frames are for WD21s. (We don't have them on the R50. ) Like Harbinger said, best crawl around and look. My opinion is that if it doesn't look like even the body should be supported on the frame, chances are the body lift won't be any better. But, if you look around each perch, you'll quickly tell the condition.

A little update on this... I opted to get a set of the thicker friction plates, and two more normal discs. The spring plate idea was a no-go due to parts availability. Each LSD is ending up with 6 new pieces. After assembling one of them the other week, I got somewhere over 300 ft-lbs, exceeding what I could measure. That basically means I tripled the break-away by adding only .1mm to each stack, despite adding .3mm previously and seeing only about double at that point. But that didn't seem right, so I broke it back down and swapped in some thinner (and unworn) plates to bring it back down that .1mm...and it went back to around 100 ft-lbs. Thinking that maybe the first build was a fluke, rebuilt it to that setup. Same thing, except I bent my torque extender, again somewhere over 300 ft-lbs. Thinking maybe it was just that one LSD, I broke down both again, swapped around parts, rebuilt it. Rebuilt my torque extender...bent it again. The extender isn't much more than a 1/4" thick--yet apparently not thick enough!--steel bar with two holes to fit over the wheel studs, and another wheel stud located further up the bar with a lug nut tightly on it so I can put the torque wrench on it. I need to get some angle iron or channel iron instead of a flat bar. Supposing I build a better extender and still hit the 300-mark, I may just replace a disc with a plate...that keeps the same thickness but removes 20% of the friction surface. Also, here is a chart I compiled before I began working on things:

Agreed!

No problem, glad you got it sorted. Sorry I couldn't reply in between your latter questions, but to answer them for future knowledge: Yellow is the 12V constant...power is always supplied to the radio to keep radio settings, channels, etc. The radio won't turn on, but uses a tiny amount of power. If your radio settings are lost after you power of the truck, then you don't have a constant 12V wired to it. Red is the ACC 12V...when the ignition switch is turned to the ACC or ON positions, 12V is sent to the radio. The radio will only turn on when power exists on this wire. The cigarette lighter is probably also on an ACC/ON circuit...again, probably the same circuit as the radio...meaning it also doesn't have power unless the key is turned to ACC or ON. The 5A is the max current draw the line accepts, but not really relevant to discussions here. The FUSE part is because both the yellow and red wires appear to have in-line fuses, according to the picture. If you gently pry open those black plastic things, there should be a 5A fuse in them. Unlike the ATC/mATC fuses you normally see in vehicles, these are small glass tubes with a thin wire inside and metal end caps. Like any other fuse, any amperage over the rating will cause the wire to burn and open the circuit (to prevent destroying other radio components). Class dismissed!

That's funny, though the stripes on the purple, green, white, and grey wires are just for polarity of the speakers. The speakers will still work fine if those are swapped, but it's not optimal. In the OP's case, if the Pioneer harness does in fact fit the SSL radio, it puts 12V into the speaker outputs on the radio...an easy not-good. The reason his USB lights up briefly and the pop is probably because the power socket and radio are on the same circuit and the radio is "absorbing" (for lack of a better term) the short through the radio audio output circuitry.

That sounds like a weird setup. I'm not sure I've seen a radio (I've installed maybe 2 dozen of them over the past 15 years) that will even turn on without power to both yellow and red leads, though if anything, the red would have to be connected and you'd just lose your memory settings each time the radio turned off. But not sure that would stop it from turning on automatically. But if what I'm seeing on the harnesses is correct as far as colors go for the OP, the wires are crossed. But he shouldn't be having any problems if he puts the original radio back in, unless I'm missing some puzzle piece (like an amp in the mix).